Gartner reports another slide for Windows Phone

Figures released by Gartner make for yet more uncomfortable reading if you are involved in Windows Phone.

The share of the smartphone market has now dropped to just 1.7%. The figures are for Q3 and compare to a 3% share from the same period a year ago.

According to the research firm, there was an overall rise in the amount of smartphones (using any OS) sold. Some 353 million smartphones were offloaded, which is a rise of 15.5%, but sadly that didn’t seem to have a positive effect on Windows Phone handsets, with only 5.874 million sold in Q3.

Although we’re hearing big things about Windows 10, new handsets like the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL seem to be getting released with a murmur instead of with any great fanfare, and Gartner doesn’t see the new OS having any great effect on the fortunes of the mobile Microsoft OS. Roberta Cozza, research director at the firm, states..

Despite the announcement of Windows 10, we expect Windows smartphone market share will continue to be a small portion of the overall smartphone OS market as consumers remain attracted by competing ecosystems.